EZTrip.com International Destination Guide and Hotel Listings

The stone terraces of BELLINGHAM (pronounced Bellinjum) slope up from the banks of the Tyne on the eastern edge of the Northumberland National Park. It's a restful spot set in splendid rural surroundings, and it contains the medieval Church of St Cuthbert , which has an unusual stone-vaulted roof - designed (successfully) to prevent raiding Border reivers from burning the church to the ground. The Heritage Centre just east of the village centre on Woodburn Road (May-Sept Mon & Fri-Sun 10.30am-4.30pm; £1) has more on this turbulent period.

Buses stop in the centre on Market Place, a few hundred yards down from the helpful tourist office on Main Street (Mon-Sat 9.30am-1pm & 2-5pm, Sun 1-5pm; tel 01434/220616). Central lodgings are available at the modern, en-suite Lyndale Guest House (tel 01434/220361, ; £40-50), just past the Rose & Crown pub. Westfield House , a large Victorian residence with fine views at the west end of the village (tel 01434/220340, westfield.house@virgin.net ; £50-60), is rather grander, and serves a good dinner to guests. Bellingham's pubs - the Rose & Crown , the Black Bull and the Cheviot - all have a few rooms, too; those at the Cheviot (tel 01434/220696; £50-60) are the nicest. Swankiest choice in Bellingham is Riverdale Hall Hotel (tel 01434/220254, iben@riverdalehall.demon.co.uk ; £70-90), a nineteenth-century country house on the village's western edge, with an indoor swimming pool and extensive grounds. The youth hostel (tel 01434/220313, ) has simple self-catering facilities in a primitive-looking hut some six hundred yards from the centre of the village on Woodburn Road (signposted from Main Street). The local campsite is at Demesne Farm (tel 01434/220258; closed Nov-Feb), right in the centre near the police station.